Ben Barnicoat says that the left front upright broke unexpectedly. Ben Barnicoat has won this race in Abu Dhabi for the last couple years. The form book has been torn up and tossed in the trash, though. Honestly, that is just what we have seen with the McLaren boys unfortunately. They had a crank sensor fail leaving for the grid. They were right in the thick of it in Pro Am and now, the suspension failure. You have to know that some drivers who have teams in the World Cup they are likely watching the soccer games as well, checking the scores. The venue here at Abu Dhabi are some of the best, in the world and this is Ben Barnicoat's fourth time racing the Gulf 12 Hours. Oliver Milroy is here too, and says it is really disappointing to be out. Don't hit anything, and the Inception team did have some contact at the start of the event.
Inception's next focus will be the Rolex 24 at Daytona next month in IMSA. Ollie Milroy sadly did not get to drive here in Abu Dhabi of course. The drivers are still smiling. Ben Barnicoat started in karting like many drivers and is still a young bloke with a bright future as James Calado leads the motor race completing 113 laps, 371 miles. Christopher Haase is 64 seconds down in second place ahead of Mattia Drudi. In the Pro-Am class, Alexander West is the leader in the #88 McLaren for Garage 59 over the SunEnergy1 Mercedes with Aussie Kenny Habul at the controls. Third in the class is the Sky McLaren of Eddie Cheever III. Temperatures are increasing after the shower. Calado's lead has increased to 67 seconds and both the top two cars are headed for pit stops I think. Ferrari #50 should have the adavantage with Davide Rigon at the controls.
#71 into the lane at the end of 115 laps. So, Christopher Haase is the erstwhile leader and what is going to happen with Mattia Drudi? He has run for an hour and three quarters, so, a stint and a half. Haase and Drudi are moving up and Alessandro Pier Guidi is now in for his second stint at the wheel of the #71 Ferrari. Pier Guidi, the vastly experienced Italian. Conrad Grunewald is back to the Am class lead in the #61 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3. He is comfortably in the lead, eighth overall while the second placed car is 17th. Christopher Haase will have to come in and now we hear Rigon and Drudi will get penalties for track limits with five seconds added to their pit stops.
The plot doth thicken. Lucas Legeret has made his move, replacing Gilles Magnus for this current stint. Davide Rigon ran a stint for an hour and a quarter, and the AF Corse team split their strategy. Oh dear! Christopher Haase almost wrecks coming into the pit lane! Egad! The Sainteloc Audi's are pitting oh, ten laps apart. So, Mattia Drudi inherits the lead of the motor race as Erwan Bastard, the Frenchman, is making his GT3 debut as he has been racing in European GT4 this year. I am so sorry. I have wanted to blog the Euro GT4 races for you all, but it has been hard to do. Might cover that if I have the time. We shall see.
118 laps now on the board, 387 miles. Audi #99 are now in the lane at Attempto Racing. We have seen three Full Course Yellow's, three safety car scrambles. Hard to believe that we have seen such trouble for the Mercedes AMG GT3's and now, the Audi R8 dominating this race to this point. Trouble in the gearbox for Attempto Racing! They have the car on the dollies wheeling it into the garage and they have only been out for eight laps between pit stops. Deary me! Wow! Mattia Drudi has a 7.4 second lead over Davide Rigon. Now, #99 has gone back out onto the pit apron. Perhaps the electronics played up. Attempto are back in the race in #99. That is good news. I think I overreacted there. Mercedes #58 in the pits for the Gostner family and their team.
Alexander West has his hands fully with Ralf Bohn in the #69 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R. West in the McLaren of course. 120 laps now in the bag as we see Fabian Schiller third, 16.7 seconds behind Davide Rigon and is 9.3 seconds ahead of Lucas Legeret. Alessandro Pier Guidi holds down fifth place 1.7 seconds behind Legeret. So the fight for fourth and fifth is simmering nicely, thank you very much. Eddie Cheever III. is in the pit lane in the #93 Garage 59 McLaren. Whoa! The Ferrari #55 runs wide, Jamie Stanley at the controls, a former British GT GT4 champion. He is chasing down the RAM Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of Ian Loggie for 17th spot.
Eddie Cheever III. out of the McLaren putting Chris Froggatt back into that car. Mattia Drudi and Davide Rigon from first and second on the road which should catapult Fabian Schiller to the lead of the motor race. Alex Aka's pit lane speed has been noted by the stewards. OK. A driver change at the sister Attempto Racing Audi team. The team cleans the windscreen and Davide Rigon will do a double stint aboard the #50 Ferrari. #66 took five seconds longer in the lane. Mercedes #77 is now leading the race. Kelvin van der Linde, the South African has taken over Audi #66 and Ferrari #50 has Nicklas Nielsen driving now.
Jamie Stanley and Ian Loggie as well as Dan Harper are all pitting. Harper and company are languishing in 27th place. Kenny Habul, too, has pitted and handed the car to one of his co-drivers. 2 Seas Motorsports are in the lane as well with James Cottingham driving. The #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 now has Philip Ellis back at the wheel, the Anglo German Swiss driver. He was a champion in Audi TT Cup before going to GT racing. We are also taking a look at Erwan Bastard in his first GT3 stint. When you jump out of a GT4 car and into a GT3 it is a huge step to take especially on a track like this one here at Yas Marina. Alex Aka is being given a pit lane speeding penalty, a ten second penalty after that massive burnout we saw in the pit lane. Jeepers creepers! That was extraordinary!
Fabian Schiller is your leader and is the one bullet left in the gun for the Mercedes Benz brand. He is eight seconds up the road from Alessandro Pier Guidi. Pablo Biolghini is third in Cup, 28th overall. Martin Kodric and Gabriele Lancieri are also into the lane for 2 Seas Motorsports and for the #52 Ferrari. Aaron Walker in the #51 2 Seas Motorsports Mercedes has also been pushed into the garage. This is a flowing, fast track, and we have not seen many wrecks. However, we are seeing mechanical woes here at Yas Marina. Pablo Biolghini is the fourth driver in that Porsche for Racevent sharing with Johannes Zelger, Davide Scannicchio, and Marco Cassara.
We have half a dozen retirements from the race and now, the second 2 Seas Motorsports Mercedes is in trouble while the main car, the #1 of Hunter Abbott is on track. Fabian Schiller is still pushing in the lead to stay ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi by about eight or so seconds. Lucas Legeret is reeling in Alessandro Pier Guidi, chipping away at the gap. Erwan Bastard is pressing on and catching the Garage 59 McLaren and the #61 AF Corse Ferrari. Fabian Schiller into the pit lane, completing 129 laps, 423 miles.
Martin Berry brings the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3 to the lane and there shall be a driver change after fueling as well as a tire change, I believe. Valentin Pierburg might take over after starting the race. Dominik Baumann, too, has had a stint behind the wheel and it looks like Baumann will get back into the car. Porsche #92 in the lane as well. This is the Centri Porsche Ticino entry with Ashish Patel at the controls. Alexander West is third ahead of Kelvin van der Linde, Erwan Bastard, and Nicklas Nielsen.
Alex Aka defending against Fabian Schiller and Aka slams the door in his face. Aka is pushing and I don't have to tell you, hard. We do not know what is going on with the #51 2 Seas Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 of Aaron Walker. Fabian Schiller is still pushing with just over seven hours to go. Aka is really making life hard for the Mercedes in relation to the sister Attempto Audi. Aka has the preferred line and Schiller gets stymied. Nabil Moutran is back into the pit lane while we see Fabian Schiller getting a real ice cream headache trying to make his move on Aka. Axel Sartingen has taken over the hands the Team Baron Motorsports Middle East Ferrari to Daniele di Amato.
The Moutran brothers #95 Porsche is in the pit lane. Nabil Moutran hands over to one of his two other brothers as the #43 MDK Ferrari is in the lane and Mark Kvamme takes over from Jan Magnussen as Fabian Schiller is losing time hand over fist behind the Audi. Fabian Schiller thinks about making a move on the Audi and he just cannot pass because Alex Aka is on the other side of the road. These two are going to have to get past the #61 AF Corse entry of Jean Claude Saada. Five second penalty for track limits for the Magnussen's. Philip Prette and Louis Prette I think have both been at the wheel of their Ferrari.
Alessandro Pier Guidi now leads Lucas Legeret by nearly 13 seconds. Kelvin van der Linde is lapping quicker than both but is over a minute down. We could very well see another safety car which is what some of these drivers will be praying for. Kenny Habul says that he loves being here in Abu Dhabi for the track, the people, and the country. The team is on the lead lap. Kenny Habul has completed his stint. Habul went out on slicks on a wet track at 270 kilometers an hour and the rear tire touched the water on the painted white line. In his younger days Kenny Habul was a stunt driver in Australia, so he is used to sliding all over the road.
Martin Konrad, the Austrian, he is another hot shoe. SunEnergy1 want to win this race even though they have the Pro-Am championship in IGTC for the 2022 season in their pocket. Kenny Habul in the rain said the Mercedes was "dancing around better than Fred Astaire!" Wow! That's a good one! Alessandro Pier Guidi is expanding his lead. Advantage Ferrari at this juncture. Kelvin van der Linde, though, even being a way off the lead, he is going to stay out longer and so will Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari who pitted on the same lap as van der Linde did. We are not quite at halfway as Pier Guidi leads the motor race by 17 seconds with Phil Ellis leading Pro Am over Benjamin Goethe and Jean Claude Saada leads Am while Ivan Jacomo leads the Porsche Cup class for Central Porsche Ticino.
No comments:
Post a Comment